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Sustainable Bloomington Highlights

Solarize Bloomington

In 2017, the City launched an effort to diversify the energy supply at its own facilities, and invited city and county residents to do the same with a group-buy discount through the Solarize Bloomington Initiative. Over 500 interested residents attended information sessions led by the Solar Indiana Renewable Energy Network in 2017 and 2018. To date, 184 homeowners have installed over over 1,200 kW of solar capacity. For more information about future Solarize opportunities, please click here. The City has also installed solar PV systems at 30 locations, estimated to provide 2,700 kW of solar capacity for municipal operations.

Bike Share

The City of Bloomington, in collaboration with Indiana University, launched the Pace bike share program in June 2018. A total of 151 bicycles have been positioned around the city at dedicated bike parking racks, public bike racks, and other bike securing locations throughout the municipality and on campus, enabling true point-to-point travel for the occasional user while also ensuring riders can reliably work bike sharing into their daily routines. More information can be found here.

Gold-Level Bike Friendly Community

In 2018, the City received a Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community designation from the League of American Bicyclists - one of only five communities to earn the Fall 2018 Gold Level award. Click here for more information on biking in Bloomington.

Hoosier-to-Hoosier Community Sale

The Hoosier-to-Hoosier (H2H) sale is a reuse program that aims to: divert reusable items from the landfill during student move-out; prevent additional resource consumption by selling collected items to students and community members; and raise funds for local charities and other organizations. In 2018, the H2H sale attracted more than 3,100 shoppers and diverted an estimated 80 tons of waste from the landfill. Volunteers worked to collect and prepare donations for the sale and raised over $48,000 to support local non-profits and sustainability programs. H2H is a partnership between the City of Bloomington, the IU Office of Sustainability, and the Cutters Soccer Club.

Monroe County Energy Challenge

This multi-year partnership brought the City of Bloomington together with the South Central Community Action Program, Vectren Foundation, Solar Indiana Renewable Energy Network, Harmony School, Monroe County and Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporations, and others to reduce community energy use. From 2015 to 2018, MCEC provided free energy assessments for more than 550 homes and 19 daycare facilities, installed attic insulation in 42 low-income households, participated in more than 250 energy fairs and community outreach events that reached an estimated 17,000+ participants, and distributed energy LED bulbs and weatherization kits to community members. MCEC is currently focused on community education and outreach through their Solar, Wind, Watts school program and their EnergyBus, a mobile energy lab that provides hands-on education in renewable energy resources and home energy conservation.

Award-Winning Transit System

Bloomington Transit was delighted to receive the American Public Transportation Association's 2010 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award for systems in the category of less than 4 million annual ridership. The system has gone from carrying fewer than half a million riders in the mid-80's to over 3.5 million in 2014, and it's still growing.

GreenBuildingOrdinance

This ordinance commissions energy efficiency analyses on 15 City buildings and mandates the buildings be brought up to LEED-Silver standards, assuming construction costs can be offset by savings within a 10-year period. It also ensures that future City construction be built to LEED-Silver standards. City Hall has achieved a 44% reduction in electricity use, and achieved LEED certification in 2012. As part of these efforts, the City also adopted a Sustainable Purchasing Policy.

City Energy Dashboard

In late 2010, the City of Bloomington purchased an energy dashboard, which enables us to see our energy usage every hour, and to compare that usage to the earlier time periods in order to pinpoint and reduce peak usage periods, in order to save both energy and money. The dashboard can be found here.

EverGreenVillage - A Green Neighborhood

EverGreen Village is a 12-unit subdivision developed by the City of Bloomington Housing and Neighborhood Development Department. The subdivision is a green-built, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) pilot project aimed to provide affordable housing to low-income residents.

Miller-ShowersPark

Miller-Showers Park is a state-of-the-art stormwater retention facility and beautiful gateway to the city of Bloomington. The Park's large holding ponds retain stormwater that drains from more than 170 acres of downtown Bloomington. Miller-Showers Park naturally treats stormwater in the City of Bloomington.